


When We Collide

by BrokenFandomChild1



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/F, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:22:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29678376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenFandomChild1/pseuds/BrokenFandomChild1
Summary: Keith just moved with his parents from Texas, and he isn't happy. He has to start a new high school and make new friends, one of his weaknesses as an introvert. But everything changes when a strange, tall boy flirts with him, and he joins the self-named group of Voltron.* * * * *Lance is the official playboy of Garrison High. He's dated just about everyone in the school and is exceptionally good with cheesy pick-up lines. But what he really craves is something that he can actually build upon, and after he flirts with the emo new kid, he just might get what he wants.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	1. Keith and the New School

Keith stared up at what he assumed to be his doom: a huge brick building in the middle of California called Garrison High. Keith did not want to be here. He did not want to socialize. He wanted to do nothing but maybe watch funny cat videos and occasionally cry from the weight and effort of being alive.

"Bye, sweetie! Love you! Make some friends!" Keith's mom, Kroila, called from her Audi.

"Okay!" Keith called back, faking a smile. He knew that the move was hard for her, and he didn't want to worry her even more. Keith heard the car drive away as he turned to face his doom. Taking a deep breath, Keith headed for the doors of Garrison High.

Keith continued to dodge laughing, talking students, cursing under his breath. Not looking quite where he was going, he tripped and fell. Into the arms of someone very tall. Keith squinted up at the tall person he had fallen into, and then scrambled away. The tall person was a guy. And... kind of cute.

"Sorry," Keith muttered, looking down. As he did so, he realized that the guy was wearing a lot of blue.

"It's okay!" The tall person laughed, patting Keith on the shoulder "The halls are crowded, I know!" 

"I should go," said Keith, his eyes still down. He moved to go but was blocked by the guy's blue-clad arm.

"Woah, wait, have I seen you before?"

"Uh, I don't thi-"

"Oh, yeah! Your name was in the dictionary, right next to the word gorgeous!"

"...what?"

"Gotta go! See you later, beautiful!" And with that, the tall guy was gone, leaving Keith to process what just happened. A boy-a _cute_ boy-had just _flirted_ with him. With a really, really, really bad pick-up line. Without knowing his name. And then... just... left. The guy had called him gorgeous. And beautiful. 

"Come on, move it!" Someone grunted, shoving Keith out of the way. _Right, I'm not here for a boyfriend, I'm here for an education._

Keith stared at the full cafeteria, tray in hand. He saw a nearly empty table and headed in that direction, already planning what music he'd listen to. Plopping down, Keith scrolled through his favorite My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco, and Fall Out Boy songs.

"Hey, beautiful." The familiar voice made Keith's head snap up. There he was. Tall guy, in all his glory, was sitting right in front of Keith, finger-guns and snazzy smile at the ready.

"Uh, hi," Keith mumbled, looking back down at his phone.

"This is my table, y'know." Keith looked back up. He couldn't tell if this guy was serious.

"Sorry?" Keith made to stand up, but the guy just grinned.

"No, no, stay. I never have any company!"

"Being dramatic, are we, Lance?" A new voice said. Keith saw a small girl, in all green, push her wire-rimmed glasses up on her nose and laugh. A big, bulky guy in mostly yellows and a headband followed suit, sitting next to the small kid.

"You know I am." Lance winked. The girl rolled her eyes and turned to Keith.

"Hey, I'm Pidge! And this is Hunk!" She said, gesturing to the big guy in all yellow.

"Keith." Keith introduced.

"Pleasure. Oh, Allura, hi!" Pidge was waving to a girl with exceptionally long hair, trotting towards them.

"Hello, everyone!" Allura exclaimed. "Er, I don't think I've met you?"

"That's Keith." Hunk said.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Allura! Has anyone seen Romelle?"

"Romelle? No, maybe she's-oh, wait, there she is! Romelle!" A girl with long blonde hair in pigtails and pale purple was coming up to them, waving and smiling. Keith was still trying to figure out how he was being so social when everyone sat down and started talking. Everyone but Lance.

"So, Keith, I've never seen you around before," Lance said.

"Yeah, where are you from?" Pidge asked, breaking away from her conversation with Hunk.

"Uh, Texas," Keith answered.

"Oh, cool, so you're a cowboy!"

"Lance, he is not a cowboy."

"Oh, you're right. Too emo."

"I'm... sorry?"

"You are! With your hair, and grumpy looks, and red and black outfit... hey!"

"What? Wait what's wrong with my hair?" Keith asked, but Lance had turned to Pidge and was shaking her, calling,

"Important announcement, guys! Important announcement!"

"Oh, what is it?" Romelle questioned, turning in her seat.

"We have a new paladin!"

"What...?" Keith was so very lost.

"Oh, right, you don't know! Well, we're Voltron!" Lance said grandly. Keith had no idea what Voltron was.

"Uh..."

"It's our group," Pidge explained.

"And everyone in the group has a color," Hunk added.

"So that's why everyone is wearing nothing but different shades of a certain-"

"Color? Yeah."

"Lance is blue, I'm green, Hunk is yellow, Allura-she's more of a princess, but still a paladin-is pink and Romelle is purple."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" A strange voice from above Keith asked.

"Shiro!" Pidge cried.

"That's Shiro, our leader! And his boyfriend, Adam." Lance explained. Keith turned to see a tall man with an uppercut and a tuft of white hair in front of his face, dressed mostly in black and holding hands with a guy who must be Adam, beaming down at everyone.

"Hi, I'm Shiro, and this is Adam." Shiro introduced.

"Uh, Keith," Keith said.

"Shiro is the black paladin."

"And what's Adam?"

"He's the orange paladin."

"Explains why he's wearing so much orange."

"Okay, guys, are we adding a new paladin to our group?" Adam asked.

"Yes!" Allura exclaimed, then backtracked. "Or, well, I think so. Do you want to be a paladin, Keith?"

"Um," Keith looked around at all of the hopeful, grinning faces. These 'paladins' wanted to be his friend. "Sure. If you have any colors left."

"Oh, yes, but only three. Red, Magenta, or White."

"I'll be... red."

"Great," Lance exclaimed. "Now we have to make it legit. What's your number?"

"My n-why do you want my number?"

"Well, first of all, you are absolutely gorgeous, and second of all, I need to add you to the group chat."


	2. Lance and the New Kid

Lance checked his phone for the fifth time in three minutes. School was so boring. It was last period, which was usually his favorite, but not when they were about to legit a new paladin, a.k.a. go over to his house and eat snacks on the beach, and a cute paladin at that. 

Lance didn't actually like Keith. Not like that. But he was cute and if that ever became a thing... well, Lance wouldn't mind. His phone buzzed, and Lance snuck it out to read the text.

**Pidgeon:** _So, meeting at Lance's after school, right?_

**Foodie:** _yeah, i think so. that's good with you, right, Keith?_

**Keith:** _yea_

**LoverboiLance:** _ur text names so boring! u should change it_

**Keith:** _to what? loveydoveykeith? no thanks_

**LoverboiLance:** _no maybe cutekidkeith. thats catchy right?_

**Keith:** _I am not changing my text name to cutekidkeith_

"Lance!" Mr. Coran called. Lance looked up. "Phone away."

"Sorry, sir," Lance said, tucking his phone into his pocket and doodling on his paper.

"Pidge! Pidge, over here!" Hunk called to the bright green figure, who started to bob toward them. Lance noted that her brother, Matt, was with her.

"Hey, guys." Pidge panted. "Matt wanted to come along."

"Who's Matt?" Lance jumped. Where had Keith come from?

"Oh, Matt's Pidge's brother, a.k.a. the brown paladin." Hunk replied.

"How many paladins are there?" 

"Uh..." Hunk started counting on his fingers. "About nine, including you, I think."

"Yeah, hi, I'm Matt, and I don't think we've met," Matt said.

"Keith, nice to meet you." 

"Hey, guys," Shiro said.

"Hey." Hunk smiled. Adam waved at something behind them. Lance turned to see Allura and Romelle, both clasping the other's hand tightly, pushing their way through the crowd.

"Okay, is everyone here? Because I see my mom's car." Lance said. Indeed, there was Sophia McClain's silver minivan.

"Alright, then. C'mon." Shiro instructed, herding everyone to the car. "Wait, there's a lot of traffic. Pidge, stay by someone tall, you're tiny."

"Hey!" Pidge said indignantly, but she grabbed Hunk's hand anyway. They crossed the street safely, thanks to mom friend Shiro, and went to pile into the minivan. Lance, of course, called shotgun but turned to face everyone in the back. Keith was herded in by Allura and Romelle, leaving Hunk, Pidge, and Matt to the back-backseat.

"Oh, dear," Sophia said at the sight of Shiro and Adam still outside the car. "I don't think there's enough space." 

"It's okay, Mrs. McClain, we can drive there on our own," Adam assured her.

"Well, alright, then. Everyone settled?"

"Yep!" Everyone but Keith chorused.

"We'll see you two there." Shiro shut the door, and then followed his boyfriend into the parking lot. Lance turned on the radio.

"Oh, I like this song!" Romelle said, wiggling in her seat.

"Wait a tick," Sophia said, looking in her rearview mirror. "I don't know you..."

"Mom, this is my boyfriend, Kei-"

"You have a boyfriend? Another one?" Sophia asked, at the same time Keith cried,

"I'm not your boyfriend!" Pidge sighed.

"He does this with everyone and every time Mrs. McClain falls for it," she said.

"Oh, okay, so Lance is tricking me again?" Everyone nodded. "Well, then, sweetie, how about you introduce yourself, and if Lance interrupts, he won't get a cookie."

"Mom!"

"Sucks for you." Pidge didn't sound particularly sorry.

"Pidge!"

"Shhh!" Allura said. "Okay, Keith, maybe you can talk now."

"Uh, alright. I'm Keith, and I am _not_ Lance's boyfriend, I just met him today. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. McClain."

"Oh, call me Sophia. Everyone does." Lance snorted. 

"No one calls you that, Mom."

"Lance, you've interrupted, no cookie."

"H-hey! Mom!"


	3. Keith and Co.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fishes!

"Alright, so what do we do...?" Keith asked, standing awkwardly in the kitchen/living room area. He and Shiro were the only ones standing, with Allura, Romelle, and Adam on the couch. Everyone else was in weird positions. Lance was sitting cross-legged in an armchair, Hunk was in an armchair, too, Pidge in his lap, Matt was sprawled out on the floor. Mrs. McClain, or Sophia, was in the kitchen making sandwiches.

"Well, after Mom makes sandwiches, we pack up some juice and cookies and a blanket and have a picnic on the beach, which is basically my backyard," Lance replied.

"That's... that's it?"

"Yeah. Pretty great, huh?"

"I can still help you, Mrs. McClain!" Hunk called. Pidge hissed.

"It's okay, really!"

"Yeah, you stay here," Pidge exclaimed. "What? I'm _comfy_!"

"Right here is good," Lance said, spreading out the blanket. Keith slowly sat down, Lance flopped down next to him, and so did Hunk. Pidge ran to the water, screaming,

"Fishes!"

"Don't go in too deep!" Shiro called after her. Matt ran after her, also screaming,

"Fishes!" Keith looked at Hunk questioningly. Hunk gave him a sandwich.

"Turkey and cheese," he said. Keith took a bite out of his sandwich. It was _really_ good. Lance noticed Keith's expression.

"Good, right?" he asked. "My mom makes the best sandwiches."

"Hey, dude, I am right here!"

"Sorry, Hunk, but it's the truth."

"Dude!" The paladins began to talk and laugh, mouth full of sandwich and juice. Keith smiled softly. Everyone was so happy. Allura leaned her head on Romelle's shoulder, Adam and Shiro went to take a walk with the little sunlight left in the day, and Lance was telling corny, cringy jokes that made Keith laugh anyways.

 _If this is friendship_ , Keith thought, _then this is nice_. 

Keith couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow. He was, officially, the red paladin of Voltron. He had friends for the first time in his life, really. Keith got into his favorite navy blue shirt and some not black jeans, as neither of those were black and therefore less likely for him to overheat (facts). Then he shrugged on his favorite black MCR hoodie, scarfed down some breakfast, panicked because he would be late for school, remembered that school wasn't for another 30 minutes and he'd be fine, and then headed out the door.

"Hey, red!" Lance called to Keith. It was lunchtime, and Keith was heading toward the paladin table. 

"Red?" Keith asked.

"Yea, 'cause you're the red paladin!"

"Oh, nice. Uh, Pidge what are you eating?"

"I'm not _eating_ anything. It's mystery meat, I'm just stabbing it with my fork."

"If that's what they have for lunch today, I'm skipping."

"You guys can have some of my food." Hunk said.

"Ooh, really?" Pidge asked eagerly.

"Yeah, do you want a panikeke?"

"A what?"

"It's... kind of like a doughnut hole."

"Yes, I would love a panikeke!" Pidge grabbed one with her little raccoon hands. "Thanks!"

"Do you want one?" Hunk asked. Keith, realizing that he was still standing, sat.

"Sure," Keith said. Hunk handed him a panikeke. It tasted like bananas and sugar.

Hey, does anyone wanna have a sleepover at my house this weekend?" Lance asked.

"Ooh, yeah, I do!" Pidge said through a mouthful of panikeke.

"Sure, I'll come," Hunk shrugged, smiling. The rest of the paladins, not including Shiro and Adam, who weren't there, nodded and agreed. 

"Great," Lance said over the now-ringing bell, throwing finger guns at Keith specifically as he got up and took his lunch with him. 

Sadly, the next few classes were all but boring. Keith's phone kept buzzing in his pocket, and he kept sneaking it out to look.

_**Pidgeon:** Hey, guys, do you think I could hack into an extremely secure network and, like, get their wifi password and then have free wifi for life?_

_**Pidgeon:** This is purely hypothetical, btw_

_**Foodie:**...right. matt? i know you guys have the same class together, can you confirm?_

_**Math:** Yea this is purely hypothetical fr yea we are def not trying to do that rn no way_

_**LoverboiLance:** if u hack the pentagons wifi network ill be very impressed and scared_

_**Foodie:** you weren't already????_

_**LoverboiLance:** wait does the pentagon have a secure wifi network?? or is it free?? it would have to be free to have people actually work there_

_**LoverboiLance:** yes i am already scared of pidge who isnt_

_**ShiroTheHero:** You guys should really pay attention in class_

_**Adam!:** Yea, Pidge, get to work on hacking the network!!_

_**ShiroTheHero:** Not what I meant..._


	4. Lance and the Unplanned Half-Hour Hangout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some fluff! :)

Lance decided he would take a walk. Tomorrow was the sleepover, not that anyone ever really slept, especially not Pidge. But Lance doubted that she ever slept, even on a regular night. In fact, he didn't know how Pidge was still alive. According to her, about six cups of coffee, spite and the minimum of healthy foods. 

Lance stopped. There, under a tree, was Keith. He had his headphones in, his eyes closed, and was sprawled on the ground. He was in a tank top, which Lance found incredibly hot. Lance sat down next to Keith and very, very carefully and softly tapped him on the shoulder. 

Almost immediately, Lance found himself pinned against the tree by Keith, who somehow had a dagger in one hand and was glaring at Lance maliciously. 

"Whoa, okay, that's really hot and all, but where did you get that knife?" Lance asked. Keith sighed and let him go.

"You can't _do_ that, Lance." 

"I kinda did. Where'd you get the knife?"

"I always have a knife with me. I could've hurt you, idiot."

"Yeah, but you didn't," Lance pointed out unhelpfully. "What are you listening to?"

"I don't think it's your kind of music. Why are you at my house?"

"It's an emo band, huh? Wait, this is your house? You live, like, 4 blocks away from me!" Keith sighed yet again. 

"Yes, I know."

"Also, I didn't know that you actually owned anything like that," Lance said, pointing to the tank top. "I thought that you only wore, like, hoodies."

"My parents took me shopping. Luckily, there's a Hot Topic near here." Keith shrugged. Lance grinned.

"It looks good on you." To his surprise, Keith blushed.

"Uh, tha-"

"Hey, Keith, sweetie, I-oh! Who-who's this?" Lance turned to see a woman poking her head through the front door. She had greyish eyes and long black hair pulled into one of those messy buns that took 43 tries to perfect. Lance knew this from experience.

"Oh, this is Lance. Lance, this is my mom, Krolia." Keith introduced.

"You didn't tell me you were having friends over!" Krolia exclaimed.

"I-"

"Let's invite them in, huh? Come on in, Lance."

"Thanks, uh..."

"You can call me Krolia."

"Well, then, thanks, Krolia," Lance said, standing up and offering his hand to Keith, who grudgingly took it.

"So, this is my room... it's kind of messy, sorry." Keith said, hurrying to clean it a bit more. As Keith did that, Lance looked around. The room was mostly black. Black curtains, a black bedspread, black bookshelves near a black beanbag chair. Lance could see into the closet, which housed dark clothes and a black hamper. The walls were littered with posters of bands called My Chemical Romance, and Panic! At The Disco, and Fall Out Boy, and Twenty One Pilots, and Green Day. In fact, the only thing that wasn't black, grey, or white was a huge rainbow flag on one wall.

"What's that?" Lance asked, pointing to the flag.

"Oh, that? Uh, that's a pride flag." Keith replied.

"What are you proud of?"

"What?"

"It's a _pride_ flag. What are you proud of?"

"Oh, um, I like boys." There was an awkward silence.

"So, you're proud that you like boys?"

"Well, no. I mean, yeah. It-it... I'm gay."

"Okay..."

"That's just... like... a flag that kind of... shows that I... like... boys...?"

"You know what, I'll just Google it," Lance said, trying not to laugh.

"That's a good idea," Keith agreed hurriedly, chuckling a little and tossing his phone on the unmade bed. Lance went to inspect one of the posters on the wall.

"My Chemical Romance. What's that?"

"A band."

"Play me a song," Lance said, flopping down on the bed. "Please."

"Okay," Keith said, sitting next to Lance and scrolling through a huge playlist. "Let's do a classic." He clicked on a song and a G note sounded from a speaker. Lance sat up.

"I think Pidge knows this song," Lance said bopping his head softly to the music. It was not a soft-head-bop song, as he soon learned.

"It's called Welcome to the Black Parade," Keith said after the song was finished.

"Nice," Lance said, mindlessly scrolling through his Spotify. "I like this song." He clicked on _Break My Heart_ by Dua Lipa. Keith snickered.

"Of course."

"What?"

"Nothing. It's a good song."

"No, tell me!"

"Forget I said anything."

And so it went, them taking turns playing songs for the other. Eventually, Lance realized how close together the two were sitting, how, if they both turned their head to face the other, their lips would be mere centimeters apart. 

"Oh, shoot," Lance said, standing.

"What?"

"I've been here for thirty minutes. I just told my mom I was going for a walk. She is going to _freak out_. I'm sorry, I have to go!"

"Oh. Okay, then. I'll walk you to the door."

As Lance walked home, he wondered why he had felt so panicked, just a few moments ago. Usually, when he was sitting that close to someone, even if he didn't like them like that, he would enjoy it a bit, maybe even point it out. Why was Keith any different?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was posted so late!!


	5. Keith and the Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepover!!! :D

Keith rang the doorbell and stepped back as he heard the screaming of a little boy.

"Lance! Lance!!! LAAAAAANNNNNCEEEEEE!!!!!!"

"WHAT?????" Lance's voice also screamed.

"THE FIRST NERD FRIEND IS HEEEEEEERRRRRREEE!!!!!"

"WHICH ONE????"

"THE SCARY ONE IN ALL BLAAAAAACK!!!!!"

"OKAY, ONE SECOND!!!" Keith heard the thumping of footsteps and smiled a little as Lance opened the door, grinning at him. "You heard that whole exchange, didn't you?"

"Uhhh... maybe?" Keith answered, smiling wider.

"Well, that was Sylvio, my nephew. In fact, come in, and I'll introduce you." Lance said, stepping back so that Keith could come in.

"I don't know, I think he's a little scared of me."

"He'll be fine. Hey, I have to introduce you to everyone!" Lance grabbed Keith's bag and dumped it on the floor before hurtling through the house. "So, this is the office, and that's Veronica and her girlfriend Acxa. Hi, Veronica! Hi, Acxa!"

"Hi, Lance! Who's this?" Veronica asked, looking up from her work. Acxa waved.

"I'm Keith." Keith could only say that before Lance grabbed his hand and rushed him to another area of the house. 

"That was my sister, by the way. This is my older brother, Luis, and my sister-in-law, a.k.a. his wife, Lisa. And you've met my mom. Also, this is my dad."

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"Okay, c'mon. The playroom is over here, that's where we'll find Sylvio and Nadia. And probably Marco and Rachel. They're my other older siblings."

"Oh, okay."

"Hey, guys!" Lance smirked. The kids screamed. 

"Oh, shhh!" An older girl, who Keith assumed was Rachel, hushed them.

"It's the scary one!" The little boy Keith assumed was Sylvio said.

"The scary one...?" An older boy, probably Marco, repeated.

"He's not that scary!" The girl, Nadia, protested.

"Well, I don't see why Lance has a crush on him!"

"I-what?" Keith asked, amused.

"I do not have a crush on him, geez! Okay, let's go meet the others." Keith was yet again pulled along by Lance, who took him to yet another room. "This is the family room, and this is Gran and Pop!"

"Oh, Lance, dear, you scared me!" Lance's Gran exclaimed. "Oh, and who's that handsome boy you have with you?"

"Gran, Pop, this is Keith. Keith, this is Gran and Pop."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Lance's Pop asked.

"No, geez! C'mon, Keith, let's go get your bag and I'll show you the rest of the house."

"Okay, but can we not... run?"

"Yeah, okay."

"And this is my room!" Lance said, pulling Keith through the door.

"Wow, okay." Keith looked around. There was a lot of blue. Blue walls, a blue bedspread, a blue desk chair, a blue rug. "It's... cleaner than I thought it would be."

"Well, I _was_ expecting guests." Lance shrugged, flopping down on his bed.

"You still are."

"Oh. Right." Keith turned to look at Lance's desk. Drawings done in colored pencil were hanging over it and a computer was shoved to the corner of the desk in favor of a drawing of a red lion.

"What's this?"

"Oh, yeah, that's for you!" 

"For me?" Keith picked it up.

"Yeah, every paladin gets one."

"Wow, this is really good..."

"Oh, I-uh, thanks!" Keith looked up. Was Lance _blushing_? Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"LLLLLAAAAANNNNCCCCCEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" Sylvio screamed.

"WHO IS IT???" Lance bellowed.

"THE ONES WHO ARE DAAAAATIIIIIINNNNG!!!!!"

"Well, Shiro and Adam were busy, so it must be Allura and Romelle."

"Wait a tick, they're dating???" Keith asked, putting the drawing down and following Lance downstairs. Lance went to open the door as Sylvio said,

"Hey, Lance's crush."

"I'm not-we're not-"

"Keith! Hi!" Allura exclaimed. She and Romelle were holding hands, Keith noticed.

"Hey," Keith said.

"Oh, look, there's Pidge and Hunk and Matt," Lance said. "I bet they carpooled. Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Lance!" Pidge said, ditching her bag as soon as she got inside. Hunk sighed and picked it up, while Matt waved. 

"So, that's everyone, right?" Allura asked.

"Yep," Lance said.

"Alright," Pidge said, leaning on Hunk. "What are we gonna do?" 

"I was thinking we could do a spa night! Face creams, nail painting, maybe karaoke?" 

"Okay, but it's not nighttime yet. What are we supposed to do 'till then?"

"I have some dress-up clothes if you want to do a fashion show," Veronica said from behind Lance.

"Ooh, nice, let's see, let's see!" Pidge exclaimed. Veronica laughed.

"Okay, let me get them." She trotted upstairs and quickly returned lugging a big trunk. "Here they are!"

"D'you think anything will fit Pidge?" Matt wondered aloud.

"Hey! Matt! C'mon!" Pidge cried as Veronica set the trunk down at the foot of the stairs.

"We'll be waiting in the office," Acxa told them.

"I don't wanna come out." Hunk said through the bathroom door. "I look ridiculous."

"Oh, come on, Hunk, plllleeeeaaaassssssseeeeeeeee???" Matt encouraged. Keith was already in his outfit: an oversized tie-dye tee, black booty shorts, and a long, hooded black cape. He also felt ridiculous. The rules to this game of dress-up were simple: you couldn't choose your outfit, and as long as it wasn't too small or way too big, you had to wear it. So far, Lance was in a crop top with a short blue skirt and a pirate's hat (and totally rocking it), Pidge was in a green dino outfit, Allura was decked out in an ugly Christmas sweater and camo shorts over pink leggings, Romelle was in gold parachute pants and a purple tank top, and Matt was in a long, brown-and-beige medieval dress and matching sock-gloves.

"Yeah, Hunk, I'm sure you look beautiful," Pidge said sweetly. 

"...I don't know, guys..." Hunk trailed off.

"Pleeeeaaaasssseeeeee??" Matt, Pidge, and Lance chorused. Hunk sighed.

"Alright. Just... don't laugh _too_ much." The bathroom door swung open, revealing Hunk in all his glory. He was in a knee-length yellow sundress with a sunflower print, with a pretty sea-green shawl wrapped around his shoulders. Hunk asked,

"It looks weird, doesn't it?"

"No, it actually looks better than I thought it would," commented Pidge. She was smiling.

"Really?"

"Really. Now, c'mon, we have an audience waiting."

"I forgot about that." Hunk groaned. 

"So, Veronica is going to announce," Lance said. "We'll be going in alphabetical order." 

"Oh, great," Allura said, glancing down at her outfit.

"Yeah, so, Allura's first. Then Hunk, Keith, me, Matt, Pidge, and Romelle. The judges, or Veronica, Acxa, and the little kids will grade you from 1-10, 1 being worst and 10 being best. Whoever has the highest score wins, and gets bragging rights for the rest of the evening."

In the end, Pidge won, with 38 points. 10 points each from Veronica and Acxa and 9 points each from Nadia and Sylvio.

"Betrayal!" Lance cried as Pidge did a victory dance. "I can no longer trust anyone."

"Really? No one?" Keith asked jokingly.

"Well, _maybe_ I'll trust you." Lance winked. Keith felt his cheeks burn and quickly looked away.


	6. ~Lance~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepover Part 2!!!! :D

Finally, finally, they could begin spa night! Lance had a basic outline of how the night would go: 

-Face cream first

-Nails next. Lance had a lot of colors to choose from

-Then wash off the face masks and wait for nails to dry while Rachel and Marco set up the karaoke machine

-Karaoke, while Mom or Dad make dinner (probably with the help of Hunk)

-Dinner

-Make a pillow fort and watch a movie or something

"Okay, so d'you guys wanna do face cream?" Lance asked. Romelle nodded.

"What kinds are there?" asked Keith suspiciously.

"Uh, I think there's a cucumber aloe cream, a charcoal cream, a rose one, a lavender one, and a lemongrass one. The rose one is my favorite, but they're all good." 

They each picked theirs. Matt chose lemongrass, Pidge was forced to choose lavender by Hunk and Matt because "Then maybe you'll sleep tonight!". Allura and Romelle also chose lavender (by choice), Keith chose charcoal, and Lance chose rose. Then, they applied the cream. Lance had to help Keith because he had no idea what he was doing. 

"No, like this-"

"Don't get it in my eyes!"

"Okay, then close your eyes."

"But-"

"You'll be fine, I promise," Lance assured him. "I'm not putting it on your eyelids, I'm putting it _under_ your eyes." Keith huffed.

"Fine. Just be careful." Keith closed his eyes, and Lance gently applied the cream, leaning in a little closer than necessary.

"There, I think that's good." Lance's voice was quieter than usual. Keith opened his eyes and Lance pretended that he was still inspecting, just to stay this close to Keith. 

"Okay." Keith sounded unusually breathless. They stood there a moment, in near-silence, until Romelle asked loudly,

"Are we ready for nails?" The boys jumped apart.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I think so!" Lance said, glad that the rose cream was hiding his burning face. 

"I think we should color our nails the color paladin we are. Like, my nails would be blue, but we can do different shades."

"Okay, but I want sparkles on mine!" Pidge exclaimed, reaching for a rainbow sparkle polish.

"Ooh, me, too! Gold and yellow go so well together, don't'cha think?" Hunk asked, inspecting his unpainted nails.

"Oh, c'mon, are you serious?" Matt huffed.

"Ah." Lance chuckled. "You could do a chestnut brown with gold and red glitter?"

"...alright." 

"Okay, so we're gonna have to paint other people's nails, so pick a partner-"

"Allura," Romelle said, grabbing Allura's arm.

"Hunk." Pidge grinned. 

"Aw, come on!" Matt exclaimed.

"I can be your partner, but then Keith-"

"No!" Pidge basically shouted. "What I mean is... Matt can be in our group!" She laughed, taking Matt by the arm and yanking him to the corner that Hunk and her had already called.

"Oookaaayyyy then... I guess we're partners, then." Lance said, turning to Keith and smiling. He was surprised to see that Keith was smiling, too.

"I guess we are." Lance busied himself with picking out all of the blues and reds from the pile, once again glad for the face cream.

"What shade of red do you want?" Lance dumped the pile down in front of them. Keith's hand hovered over a few before picking a dark red color. 

"This one." Lance picked light and dark blue colors. 

"I'll alternate colors. Have you ever painted nails before?"

"Uh... no."

"Okay, I'll go first and show you what to do," Lance said, opening the nail polish and taking Keith's hand. "So, first, you add a bit of polish right here-" Lance put a dot of red near the back part of the nail. "-then go from there. See?" He finished the nail-and the rest of them-with almost no mistakes. 

Keith was not as good, but better than Lance anticipated. His nails were a bit sloppy but overall very good. 

"Look, guys! Lookit my nails!" Pidge exclaimed. "Didn't Hunk do a good job?" She waved dark green nails with golden sparkles in front of Lance's face. 

"Oh, yeah, those are cool!" Lance said. "But look at _mine_! Keith did them, aren't they great?" He waved his slightly sloppy nails in the air and glanced back at Keith to see him looking rather pleased. 

"Here are mine. Romelle did a great job with them." Allura commented, showing them her rose-pink nails. Everyone admired everyone else's nails. Hunk did an amazing job with Matt's, much to Matt's relief. (Hunk rocked his own yellow-and-gold nails) Romelle's were a pretty purple with silver specks of glitter, and there were Keith's red ones. But Lance liked his the best.

Karaoke was next. Pidge went first, belting out What'd I Miss from Hamilton. She was way better than Lance thought she'd be, for acting out about 4 people _and_ singing the whole thing _along with dance numbers._

Next was Allura. She did invisible string by Taylor Swift and was fairly good. Then Lance, who bopped to New Rules by Dua Lipa. Matt was forth, and he did I'm Not Famous by AJR. Romelle, who sang Getaway Car, also by Taylor Swift. Hunk, who needed some convincing (He usually listened to classical). Luckily, he knew the words to Sit Still, Look Pretty. Eventually, Keith was the only one left. He stepped up to the mic.

"What song?" Hunk asked.

"Uh... Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy."


	7. *Keith*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FORT!!!

In the end, Romelle won. Keith was in second place, surprisingly. He expected to be dead last, but then again he usually sang to MCR, which was harder to sing to, if he even agreed to karaoke in the first place. 

Now, he was watching Pidge do her rendition of Cell Block Tango. It was good, Keith was convinced that she really did kill someone. Which she probably had. Hunk had left to go help Lance's parents make dinner, so Keith was DJing. He didn't want to sing again, he was rather bad, in his opinion.

Pidge finished dramatically, and everyone clapped, including some adults lingering at the edge of the sitting sleepover party. Pidge bowed and trotted off the stage.

"Okay, who wants to go next?" Keith asked.

"I do!" Pidge exclaimed, for the millionth time.

"No, no, dinner's ready, guys!" Hunk called to them.

"But I've only performed 6 times!" Pidge whined, getting up and trudging to the kitchen.

"Okay, guys, the fort's ready!" Matt announced, gesturing to the finished product. Pidge peeped out from one of the entrances. Everyone had been waiting for the two to finish the fort they had carefully planned. It was set in the living room, as Lance's room didn't have enough space. Everyone was in their pajamas and ready to pick a movie.

"There are 3 sleeping sections that can fit two people," she told them. Keith quickly realized that there were 7 people, and with 3 sections fitting only 2 people...

"There won't be enough room for one person." he frowned.

"Matt wants to be annoying and sleep right in the middle of the fort." Matt was nodding and grinning in agreement to Pidge's sighed declaration.

"We thought that we could just use the buddy system again. So, Pidge and Hunk in a section, Romelle and Allura in another, and Keith and Lance in the last one." Matt said, grinning even wider. "And me sleeping in the most annoying place possible." For some reason, there were weird butterflies in Keith's stomach. He brushed them off and crawled inside the fort.

It was a very spacious half-moon-shaped fort. On either side of the end of the curve, there were two sleeping sections across from each other. Where a wall straight across should have been, there was open space facing the T.V. Across from the open space, there was another sleeping section at the topmost part of the curve. In between each section, there was an entrance/exit.

"Everyone, claim your sleeping sections!" Pidge said. Romelle grabbed Allura and chose the middle one and Hunk and Pidge got the right one. Keith inched to the left one. Somehow, Lance was already there. It was very cozy, and somehow still spacious enough for two. There was a flat, pillow-like mat to sleep on, along with some throw pillows lining the walls of the space (the wall closer to the entrance was longer than the one near the opening to the T.V.) and a few blankets folded sloppily at the edge of the mat. 

Meanwhile, Matt was making his nest as big as possible using blankets, pillows, and a collection of mats on the floor in the middle of the fort. He wriggled around in it, lying down a few times and rearranging it if it wasn't perfect.

"Okay, so, Hunk made us popcorn _and_ he brought chocolate-covered popcorn, so each group gets some of that. Don't eat all of your popcorn now, wait for the movie," Pidge said as Hunk came around, passing bowls of mixed popcorn to each group. Keith had to fight Lance to get some, he was hogging the bowl.

"Hey, my bowl's smaller than everyone else's!" Matt complained.

"Yeah, 'cause you're the only one in your group, idiot. What movie do we wanna watch?"

"We could watch a Marvel movie," Allura suggested. "I've never watched one before."

"Or a D.C. one," Romelle added.

"Or a classic. Mean Girls is always good." Lance proposed.

"What about Enola Holmes?" Matt asked. "It's pretty cool!"

"You always wanna watch that! What about The Hunger Games?"

"Okay, or Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse!" 

"Ooh, that's a good one."

"What about The Princess Diaries? Or 13 Going On 30?" Hunk asked.

"Yes! Classics!" Lance agreed. "Or a Disney movie! Oh, like Lady and the Tramp!" He pretended to swoon into Keith, who laughed.

"What about you, Keith? What do you think we should watch?" Allura asked.

"Disney movie! Lady and the Tramp!" Lance whispered to Keith.

"Okay, a Disney movie," Keith said.

"Yissssss!!!"

"But, like, not Lady and the Tramp. More like Maleficent."

"Oh, I have an idea!" Allura exclaimed. "Each section can vote on a movie, and then we can vote on which movie we all want to watch."

"But we'll just vote for our own movies." 

"Well, if it's your movie, you don't get to vote."

"Or, well, actually, depending on the movie's length, we could watch all four movies," Pidge chimed in.

"Let's all decide first." Hunk broke in. Keith turned to Lance.

"Maleficent." They said at the same time.

"Wait... really?" Keith asked.

"I mean, yeah. She's the villain from Sleeping Beauty, and it would be super cool to see the story from her point of view. Plus it's a live-action, so it'll either be really good or really bad and if it's really bad we can watch Lady and the Tramp."

"Have... have you watched Maleficent before?"

"No, I just really like Disney movies."

"Is everyone done?" Matt asked loudly. Keith realized that they were the last ones talking.

"Uh, yeah."

"Okay, so we chose 13 Going On 30," Pidge told them.

"And we chose Wonder Woman 1984," Romelle said.

"And I chose Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse," Matt added.

"We decided on Maleficent." 

"Okay, so that plus that plus that plus that iiiiisssss........... 8 hours and 47 minutes!!" Pidge said, waving her phone around.

"...???" _(that was everyone but Pidge)_

"Oh, right. I added all the movie times together, and that's what I got." 

"Oh," Romelle said. "What movie should we watch first?" 

"Wonder Woman!" Matt yelled.

"Aah!" Lance cried, jumping a little.

"Okay, sure. Hunk?" Pidge asked.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me, only if we watch our movie next."

"Okay. Klance?"

"Klance?" Keith asked.

"Oh, yeah, everyone has their own sleeping section name: Punk, Romura, Klance, and And Matt." Keith felt his face burn a bit and was glad for the half-light in the fort.

"That sounds good to me," Lance said. Pidge flicked through Amazon Prime to Wonder Woman 1984 and pressed play.


	8. Klance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment you've all been waiting for...  
> (I think)

Keith figured out very quickly that Lance was a cuddler. When he had started to get tired, Lance leaned on Keith's shoulder, nearly disrupting the last of the popcorn. Now, Keith was being woken up by Lance wiggling around, which was a little unusual. He hadn't done that at all before. Keith was about to flop over to tell Lance to stop when the wiggling suddenly ceased, and a hunched shadow crawled out of the fort.

Keith flopped over. Lance was gone. Deciding that he had probably just gone to the bathroom, Keith flopped over again and tried to go back to sleep. But Lance didn't come back. Sighing, Keith got up and crawled out of the fort to go find Lance, wherever he was.

A few minutes of searching yielded no results. Keith looked in Lance's room, in every bathroom, the family room, and the playroom. Finally, all that was left was the kitchen. No Lance there, either. Keith was about to go back to the fort to go to sleep when he saw the moon in the glass sliding door. It was beautiful and big and full, hanging over the sea. Keith could just about feel the night air, hear the waves, taste the salt. Wait... he _could_ feel the air, hear the waves and taste the salt. The door was slightly open. Did Lance...? Keith glanced back at the fort. It was worth a shot. Slowly, he slid the door open and stepped outside.

Keith neared Lance, who was standing with his feet barely in the water.

"Lance?" Keith's voice was scratchy and soft from sleep. Lance turned, looking a little surprised.

"Oh, hi, Keith." he greeted. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Uh, you were very wiggly."

"Sorry. I just like coming out here sometimes. It's usually pretty peaceful."

"Yeah. It's nice." Keith said, walking forward even more until he was next to Lance. There was a long, comfortable silence. Keith tried to quiet the quivery feeling in his stomach that seemed to suddenly appear. 

"We should go back," Lance said softly.

"Yeah, we should." Keith agreed. They walked to the house, but Keith paused before opening the door.

"You don't want to, do you?" 

"No, not really. It's so nice out here." 

"Then let's sit until we actually want to go in," Lance said. He took Keith's hand and they collapsed in the soft sand a few feet away from the door. Lance didn't let go of Keith's hand as he leaned on him, and Keith didn't really mind, he noticed.

"We gotta make sure we don't fall asleep out here." Keith yawned, his head lolling on Lance's.

"Have you ever been in love?" Lance asked suddenly, raising his head and bonking Keith's.

"Uh, what? I-I mean, kind of, I guess. Not-not really in a romantic way. If I ever get a crush on anyone, they're usually straight, so..."

"'Cause at Garrison High, I'm kind of the playboy, I guess. I've dated just about everyone."

"Okay...?" Keith didn't know why Lance was telling him this.

"Even boys." Lance was looking at him.

"Oh." And Keith's voice was very soft. 

"What does that make me?"

"Bisexual." Keith couldn't stop looking at Lance's lips.

"That's good. I like a certain boy in particular."

"Who?"

"Can I kiss you?" 

Lance didn't let go of Keith's hand even when their lips touched.


End file.
